The Beast Within
by Masked Misfit
Summary: The beast within is taking over Chase Young, filling him with the desire for an heir and some company at last. The only problem is that the woman it wants is the only one that poses a real threat to him... A Xiaolin Dragon. This is the tale of how Chase Young will stop at nothing to get what he wants, and how he eventually realises he's getting much more than he bargained for.
1. Chapter 1

Chase Young sat alone. He had always been alone. It was... maddening.

But somehow, despite the solitude, he had never been driven to insanity. Not yet, at least.

He lounged at the table in front of him, eyeing the plates filled with delicious cakes, desserts, tarts, pies and sweet treats to try and tempt him, but it was no good.

His stomach could not be appeased with these simple treats. Instead, he thirsted for something else.

"You," he snapped at the nearest jungle cat, which was snoozing calmly on the floor, several feet away. "Bring me my soup."

He could almost taste it. The sweet, warming scent of his Lao Mang Lone soup was so enticing. One sip lingered in the mouth for hours. It had such a delicious taste. Nothing could compare. There was no euphoria like it.

And yet, he had no one to share it with.

All alone, in his giant palatial volcano home, he sat at his perfect dinner table, with his vigilant and faithful jungle cats/warriors, which tended his every need, and he enjoyed it all alone.

Then, he caught the scent in his nostrils, and he turned his head slowly towards the source.

The familiar smell of the Lao Mang Lone soup filled him up, and one of the Warriors who tended served the ornate, stone bowl at his dinner table gently. The bowl was filled with the hot, beige liquid, which steamed and smoked enticingly.

His gloved fingers reached out to grip the bowl tenderly, and he lifted the bowl to his lips, feeling the soup touch his lips like hot kisses.

He tipped the liquid straight down his throat, swallowing every mouthful gratefully, smacking his lips when he was done and sighing.

But the emptiness was still there.

It had been growing recently, becoming more noticeable.

 _I am growing old,_ he thought to himself, which made him chuckle.

Deciding he was finished staring at the rest of the food on the table, he waved his hand at the warrior who had brought the soup. "Take this away." He commanded, and the warrior quickly bowed and rushed to complete the task.

No doubt the cats would devour it all fairly quickly.

Chase Young got to his feet, feeling his long hair fall sleekly behind him. His golden armour clinked lightly as he stood upright, and strolled casually towards one of the exits to his dining room, finding the nearest bathroom.

The room was easily big enough to be someone's bedroom, with glistening marble tiles everywhere, a bathtub bigger than a double bed, and a mirror that ran along wall.

He found himself in front of the mirror, staring at those reptilian eyes of his. They glistened and shone menacingly, seeming to burn, even in the brightly lit room.

His skin glowed with fresh-faced youth. His hair glimmered with bounce and shine. He stood tall, with all the confidence of a plucky twenty-year-old.

But inside, he felt completely the opposite.

Though he knew he looked like a young, attractive boy, Chase Young was actually 1,500 years old, give or take a few years. He tended to lose track.

He could recall the first time the soup touched his lips, and he had never looked back. Never.

But now, he felt himself beginning to weaken. He almost felt as if he could see the lines beginning to appear on his face. He could feel himself growing weary, tired of the world.

"What good is ruling the world, when you've no one to share it with?" He whispered to himself purposefully, examining the mirror closely to check that those wrinkles truly were all in his head.

He could feel the animal inside of him beginning to stir. It did so occasionally, and when it did, it would whisper to him.

 _You need a companion..._ it hissed softly.

"I will have one." He answered aloud, though he did not know how to deliver on his promise.

The beast within cackled softly, and crooned four words that made Chase's heart seize up:

 _You need an heir._

He stood bolt upright, shocked at the idea.

An heir? A child? He had never considered children before, not had he ever considered what he would do in future.

 _An heir... to carry on your name and deeds._ The voice hissed as it spoke, echoing inside his mind.

The idea had merit, the beast was right about that.

An heir could come in useful.

It would be someone he could teach, who could be just like him, who he could trust completely, who would accompany him in his quest for world domination, and when he decided to retire, could replace him, and rule in his stead.

And it would fill the emptiness. Something to do, while he wasn't plotting world domination.

Yes...it was all so simple.

"Yes..." He replied, narrowing his eyes with determination. "But... how?"

He heard the beast within cackle softly. _Strength... power... you need all of these..._

"Yes," he whispered back. "I will not suffer weakness."

 _You must have a woman, strong enough to bear the child you deserve..._

Chase Young's heart thudded hard against his chest.

A woman?

He had not had a woman in many, many years. He did not even think an average woman would be able to withstand him. He had never found joy in such frivolities. Such things were for the pleasure of mere mortals, and Chase Young had no desire to take part in them.

 _You must._ The voice commanded, and Chase Young growled back at it.

No, he could find a gifted orphan, raise it as his own.

 _None are as gifted as you._

I will not engage in such activity.

 _No child in the world will ever be as powerful as yours..._ The lizard whispered seductively into his ear, and Chase felt the invisible claws digging into his shoulders.

Sometimes he could feel the great weight of the lizard crushing down on him, and sometimes it would tear him apart, and the beast inside would burst free. He could not control it. His mind would cloud over, and the beast inside would take over.

 _You must have an heir._ He could almost feel the breath in his ear, and Chase Young bowed his head forward with determination.

"I will have an heir."

 _Good._

"The woman, she must be strong. She must be powerful." He said, more to himself than the beast.

 _There is only one..._ it hissed, crooning into his ear.

Chase Young raised one eyebrow slowly.

"Of course."

 _She is the only one._

 _The only one who is powerful enough._

 _The only one who is strong enough._

 _The only one with enough fire to give you the heir you deserve._

Chase Young whispered her name softly, as if it was the first time he had ever heard it.

"Kimiko."

The world echoed around the room.

XXX

Miles away, at the Xiaolin Temple, an innocent Kimiko paused, mid-jump and froze, landing on her feet with an unusually flat thump, with none of her usual finesse and grace.

"Did you guys hear something?" She asked, lifting her ear slightly, dropping her guard.

Raimundo, Omi, and Clay, who were all also practising in the training yard, looked at each other blankly, shrugging.

"Nope."

"I thought I heard my name." Kimiko said, before shrugging dismissively, and raising the staff back as she faced Raimundo, a determined smile on her face.

"Hearing voices? That's a sign of madness, you know." Raimundo taunted, winking cheekily. He twirled the wooden staff in his hands, showing off his skills.

Kimiko narrowed her eyes, and smirked. "Bring it, Pedrosa." She raised her staff, and the two leapt at each other.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Chase Young had been brooding for the last several weeks. He sent away food, ignored Wuya and Spicer's pleas for his attentions, and instead, he spent most of his time with his crystal eyeball.

Chase had many powers at his disposal; teleportation, telepathy, but his favourite of all was his crystal eyeball. It sprouted up from the floor of his home, a gnarled twisting dead branch of twigs and crumpled black leaves, flourishing into one huge, orange and unblinking eyeball.

It stared endlessly at the ceiling, never moving. Never blinking. But when Chase Young stared into it, he could see things. People. Locations. Whatever he wanted.

But lately, his attentions had been on one thing: her.

He had spent hours, days, simply watching. Brooding. Plotting.

He could see her now, training in the yard with her friends.

There were so many crass ways he could take her from the temple. There was plain old simple kidnap, but no.

Despite all that Chase was, he would not simply take her. He still had some honour. And besides, the other Dragons would only come and fight to bring her back.

Perhaps he could trap her in his home? No, keeping her prisoner wouldn't do either. That still would cause the dragons to come searching for her. And all four of them united against him would be a worthy adversary.

No, there could be only one course of action.

"If I do this, I must do this the honourable way." He thought aloud.

 _Take her now..._ The beast hissed in his ear, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"No." He told it firmly. "I will not kidnap her."

He got to his feet, and paced from one side of the room to the other.

"There is only one way." He said, quietly. "I must get her to agree to stay here, and to never leave."

 _She'll never agree..._ came the voice again.

"She will..." Chase said softly. "But only if I force her hand..."

He felt the beast cackle with delight, subdued once more, until he was left, pacing the floor again, slotting the pieces in his complicated puzzle together.

But in the meantime, he could begin preparations. Steps that he could begin to take to ensure that his plan was a success.

With a look of determination, Chase Young closed his eyes, and cast his mind to the Xiaolin Temple.

XXX

Kimiko's day began as normal; hitting her snooze button three times, slumping into the shower, spending several expletive-filled minutes in the bathroom trying to tie her hair into perfect bunches, before sloping off to the kitchen for her usual morning fix of caffeine and sugary cereal.

Clay and Omi were both already awake, chipper as usual on a cool Wednesday morning. They were having a staring competition, with Omi's eyes streaming with tears that were dangerously close to dripping into his cereal.

"Morning." She grunted, pouring herself a cup of coffee from the coffee machine.

There had been some changes to the temple over the past few years. Master Fund had spent the last few months travelling the world, taking a vacation from babysitting four teenagers for the past seven years.

So the Monks had been left to run the Temple, completing chores, rescuing Shen Gong Wu whenever it appeared and keeping their bodies in top physical form.

All of the Xiaolin Dragons had kept their youthful energy from when they had all joined up seven years ago, but now they were all 21, and felt as though they had hit the jackpot.

Between them, they diplomatically ran the Temple, with Kimiko and Omi finishing chores, Clay cooking for the group, and Raimundo and Clay repairing and restoring sections of the temple. Omi would also regularly do a stock-take of all the Shen Gong Wu, while Kimiko would often set up the training yard for them to practice in, setting various challenges for them all to complete.

They still kept their competitive streaks, holding occasional contests to see who could do the most push ups (Raimundo) sit ups (Omi), squats (Kimiko) and Clay, who was arm-wrestling champion.

But mostly, their lives were happy. They rarely even had competition from Spicer anymore, Wuya had disappeared somewhere, and Chase seemed to have crawled back into his volcano.

Overall, things had been quiet for the past year or so, and it was beginning to grow tiresome, and so practising mastery of various skills was something that occupied most of their days.

Today was basic combat skills again, as yesterday had been too.

Dojo was asleep on the table, snoring between Omi and Clay, as Omi finally yelped and blinked, his eyes streaming. Clay laughed, though his eyes were bright red and swollen.

Kimiko rolled her eyes, sipping from her cup.

"Where's Rai?" She asked, taking another mouthful of coffee.

"Not sure." Clay answered absently, rubbing his eyes. "Think he's in the yard."

Kimiko nodded. It was unusual for Raimundo to be absent from the breakfast table. He was usually the first and last one there, stuffing his face with a cheeseburger or poptarts or some other form of junk food.

So, Kimiko took a leisurely stroll towards the training yard, sipping her coffee as she went. There had been a few mod cons made to the Temple since Master Fung's departure. WiFi had been a welcome addition, plus a TV and a gaming console, but they hadn't lost their discipline. They knew that training came above all else. Master Fung had drilled that lesson into them well.

They expected him back within the next month or two.

The gardens at the Temple were beautiful. Clay had a fondness for flowers and animals, and he tended the garden as a hobby, and it was incredibly beautiful. Pink, cream and red flowers blossomed along the hedges, with ivy climbing along the walls.

She walked through it, smelling the scent of lilies on the air and breathing in the day's cool breeze. The sun was shining, peeping through two clouds, and Raimundo could be seen in the distance, pacing in the training yard.

Confused at his strange behaviour, Kimiko approached him with a raised eyebrow. "What's up, Rai? You okay?"

Raimundo didn't seem to notice her for a second or two, but when he registered her appearance, he jerked his head upright. Kimiko saw that his eyes were dark and he looked exhausted. He hadn't washed and stubble had appeared on his chin.

"Have you been out here all night?! You look awful!" Kimiko said, aghast, and Raimundo only sighed, sinking slightly.

"I can't sleep." He said, miserably. His hair had lost all its regular bounce and was flat on his head, his skin was pale and sunken, his eyes a dark purple under his eyes. He slouched as he walked, and he looked like he hadn't slept in weeks instead of a single night.

"How come?" Kimiko asked, passing him the rest of her coffee, which he downed gratefully.

"I don't know. That's the most frustrating thing." He said with a sad sigh.

"What does that even mean?" She asked.

"I don't know, Kim." He sighed again, turning away from her. "Something's not right. I can feel it in the air."

"Are you having a premonition?" Kimiko asked, half-teasingly. She knew Raimundo would perhaps not appreciate the joke in his current mood.

"It's more than that." He told her, seriously. "It's not just knowing something might happen, I'm absolutely certain of it. I can feel it, somehow, I don't know. It's not a gut instinct... It's more like..."

"Tiger instincts..." He whispered, miserably.

"Rai, are you sure you're okay? How long have you been awake?" Kimiko touched his arm tenderly. _He is exhausted,_ she thought. _He needs rest._

Raimundo looked as if her touch had stung him, and he flinched away from her. He stared at her, his eyes wide and maddened.

Kimiko looked up at him. "Raimundo, you're sweating... Are you sick? You need to rest." She told him firmly, wrapping her arms around him. "Let's get you in bed."

"You don't understand..." He sighed as Kimiko pulled him back towards the Temple.

Kimiko led him to his bedroom, forcing him to clamber into bed. She tucked him in, like a caring mother, and touched his forehead tenderly.

"Jesus, Raimundo, you're burning up." She muttered softly.

"I know it sounds crazy. Believe me, I do." Raimundo told her in a weak voice, his eyes closed. "But it's true. I can feel it. Something's happening. Something isn't right. I just don't know what."

"Shh." She said, pressing a finger over his lips to get him to stop talking. "Stay here. Sleep."

She left him for just a few moments while she called to Omi and Clay, who were both tidying up after their breakfasts.

"There's something up with Rai." She told them both, and Clay looked up from the sink sharply.

"What do you mean?" He asked, pushing his hat out of his eyes.

"He's delirious. Says there's something bad coming." She moved to the sink, dampening a dishcloth so that she could try and bring down his temperature. "Isn't making much sense, but I don't think he's slept."

Omi raised an eyebrow. "Is he sick?" He eyed the cloth.

"I think so." Kimiko said, rinsing the excess water out. "I sent him to bed but I'm going to stay with him for a while. I don't want him to wander off."

"Good idea." Clay said, drying the final dish from the sink and putting it back inside the cupboard.

Omi got to his feet from the table. "I'll call Master Fung."

Much like an over-protective parent, Master Fung always wanted to be told when one of them was sick, so that he could rush back to check it wasn't something serious, dangerous or evil in any way.

Kimiko nodded at both of them, and returned to Raimundo's side, pressing the cooling cloth to his temple.

"Kim?" The boy whimpered softly. His brow was slick with sweat, so Kimiko dabbed at it softly.

"Yeah, Rai?" She whispered back.

"You'll feel it soon too. And Omi and Clay." He mumbled, not even opening his eyes.

"You're creeping me out, kid." She said with a gentle smile, taking his hand in hers. "Just rest, will you? And stop talking so much bull."

He grunted in response, and Kimiko was fairly sure that he fell asleep almost instantly.

She stayed with him for several hours, concerned about his high temperature, dabbing at his forehead.

Kimiko watched Raimundo sleeping peacefully, and smiled softy. She was full of love, respect and admiration for all of the boys.

Being the only girl here had been tough at first, but she had learned that it didn't matter. They were all like brothers to her. She would have given her life for any of them. And they would have given their lives for her too. But still, she had always felt a little closer to Raimundo. Perhaps it was because they were less eccentric than Omi and Clay.

Omi had been the weird bald kid that bossed them around so much when they first joined. He had been funny at first, but it had taken a while for him to finally give her the respect she deserved. His strange habits of sleeping on his head, meditating for hours on end and extreme joy at the slightest technological device made him feel more like a weird cousin, than the brother he had later become.

Clay had been a cowboy, through and through, still was, which couldn't be further from Kimiko's technology-loving city of Toyko. Kimiko had thought him strange in their first few days at the temple, but his strange hobbies made it difficult for them to find a common ground. And then she discovered his heart of gold, and fell in love with his kindness.

But Raimundo had always been much like her. Kimiko couldn't join in Clay's wood-whittling hobby, or get the hang of Omi's constant meditation, but she and Raimundo could go head to head on Goo Zombies 2 or play soccer with ease. Somehow, she had clicked with him first, and in a sense, she had always felt like he simply understood her better than Omi or Clay.

But they had all become her family. She loved them all dearly,

After staying at Raimundo's side for a few hours, she slowly and carefully got to her feet, tiptoeing out of the door to rinse the cloth once more and to take a much needed bathroom trip. By the time she was washing her hands, she heard a familiar _SWOOSH_ overhead, and knew that Dojo had just landed somewhere, probably carrying Master Fung back from wherever he had been vacationing.

Dashing to the front of the Temple, she smiled warmly. Master Fung wore a blue beach shirt covered in tacky yellow flowers, sunglasses, and shorts that showed off his pale and hairy legs. She had to force herself not to laugh as he jumped down from Dojo's back, giving Omi and Clay a big hug as they stood waiting to greet him.

Kimiko rushed over, throwing her arms around him. He beamed at the sight of her.

"Master Fung." She said, positively glowing with happiness.

"It's good to see you all. I have been away for some time. I should visit more often."

Dojo coughed loudly, shrinking down to his normal size. "Or, you know... you could take me with you..."

"You are needed here, Dojo." Master Fung replied calmly, as Dojo pouted.

"I take it Omi called you?" Kimiko asked, and Master Fung gave a short nod.

"Yes. He was right to do so." He said, glancing past Kimiko towards the Temple Door. "Take me to him."

Kimiko, Omi and Clay led Master Fung to where Raimundo was sleeping. Still sound asleep, Raimundo snoozed oblivious, even as the four talked in hushed voices around his bed and Kimiko continued to dab at his sweating brow.

Master Fung placed his hand on top of Kimiko's gently. "Tell me what happened."

Kimiko repeated the story as gently as she dared, so she did not wake up Raimundo. Master Fung was an excellent listener, nodding as she continued whispering. When she was done, Master Fung nodded once and dismissed the other three monks from the room with a wave of his hand.

While Master Fung examined Raimundo's condition, the others busied themselves, catching up with chores.

Finally, as dusk was approaching, Master Fung emerged from the room, and called the others into the dining room.

"Let us have tea." He said quietly, and Kim, Omi and Clay obliged.

Soon, they were all huddled around the dining table, 4 cups of steaming hot green tea in their hands.

"What do you think, Master Fung?" Omi said, after taking a long sip of his tea.

"I believe Raimundo is in no danger." The old man said calmly.

"Why's he acting so strangely?" Clay questioned further.

"It is nothing of concern. He will recover in time." Master Fung smiled softly. "I have administered a herbal remedy."

Master Fung sipped his tea. "When you first contacted me, Omi, I suspected that there could be evil at work here, but I see little evidence that there is anything to worry about. His temperature is already lowering. It is likely that the lack of sleep led to some form of hallucinations. Nothing more."

"So he's gonna be okay tomorrow?" Clay pressed.

"Yes, Clay. He will wake tomorrow likely feeling perfectly refreshed." Master Fung reassured.

"So you have no idea what he was talking about? What those 'tiger instincts' were telling him?" Kimiko asked.

"It is likely nothing to concern yourselves with, young monks." He said kindly. "It is not unheard of for Xiaolin Dragons of Wind to be intuitive to whispers of evil, to hear and see things before they come true."

"Like scents carry on the wind, sometimes secrets, whispers can be carried through the air, manifesting themselves into the minds of Dragons of Wind. It is rare, though not unheard of. I suspected that Raimundo may perhaps possess this power, though I see no evidence to suggest that this is true."

Omi and Clay stayed with Master Fung a while more, but Kimiko went back to check on Raimundo.

He was still snoring gently, and he was no longer sweating, much to her relief.

She entered his room, intending to straighten his blanket, get him some fresh water for his bedside table, and open the window a little, but the moment her hand touched his bedsheets, his hand shot up and grabbed hers.

She jumped, startled, and looked up to see Raimundo smiling at her. "Made you jump." He said, teasingly.

Kimiko rolled her eyes. "Welcome back, Raimundo." She said, sighing, but she was happy to see him back to his normal ways.

"You had us all worried there for a sec." She told him, sitting on the edge of his bed.

He stretched. "Yeah, sorry about that... I don't know what got into me."

"Master Fung thought you went all psychic on us, predicting some kind of terrible evil approaching, end of the world, that sort of thing."

Raimundo only gave a shrug. " I remember feeling like there was someone else in the Temple, and getting up in the middle of the night to explore. I couldn't shake the feeling. No matter how hard I searched, there was no one there. It was bugging me. The more I tried to work it out, the more frustrated I got. I think I just went a little crazy for a sec there..." He smiled up at her, seeming much more like the lovable boy she had grown up with again now.

"Well, no more nightime strolls, please." She ruffled his hair playfully. "Now go back to sleep. Master Fung will make me do extra chores if he knows I disturbed your rest."

"Yes nurse." He said with a wink, sliding back down into the bed and closing one eye. "Wake me up when it's time for my sponge bath..."

Kimiko smiled and rolled her eyes. "I can tell you're feeling better, Rai..." She chuckled to herself as she left the room.

That night, when she curled up in her bed, she tossed and turned for most of the night, unable to find a comfortable sleeping position. She drifted in and out of a shallow sleep, before eventually giving up at 3am.

She tiptoed past a snoring Clay and a slumbering Omi, poking her head in on Raimundo once more, to see that he was absent from his bed.

Worried, she explored the Temple, looking for him in case he had taken a turn for the worst, and then she heard soft voices coming from the dining room area.

She crept towards the voices, afraid at what, or who, was in the temple.

"I don't know..." One voice said softly. "I was so sure."

"You need not worry, young monk." Came the reply. Kimiko breathed a sigh of relief. It was only Master Fung and Raimundo, who were just chatting at the table.

She chuckled to herself, and went to walk into the room, before Raimundo spoke once more and made her freeze in her tracks.

"Do I tell her?" Raimundo asked, his voice unsteady.

 _Me?_

"No, Raimundo. You must not tell Kimiko. It would only serve to worry her."

 _What are they talking about me for? Tell me what?_

Kimiko pressed her back to the wall beside the doorframe, listening intently.

"But Master Fung... what if I'm right?"

"The future is not always certain."

"But I still feel it, Master Fung. I can still feel that something is wrong. Doesn't she deserve to know?"

 _Know what?_

Kimiko tried to lean her head forward, to peep around the corner to see if she could see them talking, but there was no way without them seeing her. Though it was dark and she would be hidden in shadow, little escaped Master Fung's gaze.

There was a slight pause, and Kimiko held her breath, in case they suspected someone was listening.

"Not yet, Raimundo. We must be patient. It is possible to be too cautious, act too hastily on these things. Should anything unusual happen, we will inform Kimiko of what you suspect."

Kimiko's heart thumped heavily against her chest.

 _What does he suspect?_

She thought about throwing herself around the corner, demanding to know, but Master Fung was stubborn. He would never tell her if he didn't want to.

Rai, however, would crumble like pastry if she demanded answers.

"I don't know for sure, Master Fung..." Raimundo continued, "But I can just feel it. Something bad's coming. And it's got to do with Kim, somehow. I don't know how, but it does. I could just... feel it on the air. Sense it somehow."

"I believe you, young monk." Master Fung said with reassurance. "But this experience is new for you. It's possible you are misreading the signs."

"No," Raimundo said flatly. "I know what it is I feel, and it's definitely that."

"Perhaps you are right. We will keep a close eye on things over the next few days. Should anything suspicious happen, we will alert Kimiko to be on her guard."

There was a small pause again then, and the sound of movement once more.

"Have you told Omi and Clay?"

"No. Only you."

"Good. Let us keep this between us for now."

"Yes, Master Fung."

"I think I should get some sleep," Master Fung said, and Kimiko heard the bones in his back cracking as he stretched.

The sound of chairs scraping against the floor came then, and Kimiko scarpered as quietly as she could.

Her head swam with thoughts and longing to know more.

She decided to press the issue with Raimundo in the morning and headed back to her bedroom, knowing that Raimundo was likely to peep his head into her room to check that she was sleeping, though she doubted sleep would come tonight.

 _If an evil is coming, why is it coming for me?_

 _What evil?_

 _Why me?_

Her head posed further questions, and Kimiko spent the rest of the night trying to think of answers that never came.

When dawn came, she awoke with little sleep and plenty of questions.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

When Kimiko woke the next morning, her head was throbbing, both from lack of sleep and the fear, fury and endless questions that kept bubbling to her mind each time she tried to drift off to sleep.

She thought she may have gotten just a few hours of sleep, and after tossing and turning all night trying to find it, sleep had not come easily. She woke seemingly every few minutes, afraid that she would wake somewhere other than the Temple, that some horrible evil had befallen her, but those were just nightmares, and nothing to be really afraid of.

Still, they kept coming. All night. She spent most of the night watching the clock, waiting for the hours to pass. Occasionally she would open her eyes and see that it had budged by half an hour, sometimes more, but it felt like it was a rare occurrence.

The sun was just creeping through her bedroom window, and she knew that dawn had only just arrived, flooding her bedroom with golden light and a hint of warmth. Deciding she had had enough of failing to sleep, she reluctantly got to her feet, feeling done with the day already. Kimiko let out a soft groan, knowing the day was going to be difficult.

Slipping on her slippers, she made her way to the bathroom for her morning shower, the usual routine. She passed the bedrooms of Raimundo, Clay and Omi who were all sound asleep, snoring, and peaceful.

The Temple was silent at this time, with the birds just beginning to chirp. Even Master Fung would not be awake yet.

The slump into the shower was a welcome one. The warmth and comfort of the shower almost made her forget how tired she was. The hot water running over her skin revitalised it, making her feel more alert, and much more like herself. She almost forgot how tired her legs felt, how her eyes were barely open properly yet, and how tough the day ahead would be.

"Kimiko?" The voice came from the other side of the shower curtain, and over the sound of the water splashing over her head, she didn't recognise which of the other monks it was.

"I'm in here! Don't come in!" She called back, loudly. She massaged some more shampoo into her hair, and squinting through the bubbles to make sure the shower curtain stayed firmly pulled shut. It wouldn't be the first time Omi had gotten curious to see what girls looked like naked.

She thought she saw the bottom of the curtain move slightly, as if someone had brushed past it, but nothing else, so she continued washing herself, rinsing the shampoo from her hair. When all the bubbles were gone from her hair, she turned towards the soap, washing herself all over and was just about to turn off the shower, when she heard the voice again.

"Kimiko?" They called once more.

"I already told you, I'm in the shower!" She called back. "I'll be out in a minute!" Kimiko turned the nozzle of the shower, feeling the last dregs of water trickle out of the overhead shower, and turned towards the shower curtain, reaching out to grab the plastic, to yank it back, and retrieve her towel from the rail behind it.

But a shadowed hand gripped the curtain from the other side, and moved to pull it back. Two orange eyes appeared, glowing, shining through the curtain, and she heard whoever it was whisper her name.

Kimiko leapt back, squealed in horror, and her world went black.

XXX

"Is she going to be okay?"

"Some concussion, perhaps, plus the broken collarbone, but she will be okay. We must watch her closely."

"It's unlike her to be so clumsy."

"Maybe she fainted? That shower can get mighty hot, and it ain't like her to get up so early. Maybe she got dizzy?"

Kimiko gave a groan. The moment she came into consciousness, her head began to throb with an ache she'd never experienced before. The back of her head was a swirling mass of pain and agony, and her whole body felt bruised to the bone. Her right chest, shoulder and arm throbbed dully, and she had a bad feeling the instant she realised she was awake. Something was wrong.

She opened her eyes, to see four concerned faces staring down at her.

Kimiko was lying in her own bed, the sheets pulled up to her chin, and a tight bandage wrapped around her head and chest, with her entire right arm bandaged up, and plastered into a sling.

She looked at each of them in turn, Raimundo, Omi, Clay and Master Fung, who were all watching over her with worry.

"Kimiko, how are you feeling?" Master Fung asked, kindly, touching her forehead gently.

"What happened?" She asked, trying to sit upright, but her body felt so heavy she could barely move. She gasped with pain, and the boys pressed her back down gently, and she decided not to try moving again so soon.

"You don't remember?" Raimundo's eyes flashed with worry. Kimiko saw him glance at Master Fung, who didn't notice or ignored it.

"You fell in the shower, little lady." Clay said gently, taking her hand in his. "Your scream woke me up, and by the time I got there, you were bleedin' all over the place. It looked like a murder scene."

"I fell?" She whispered, confused, struggling to remember through the haze of it all and the throbbing agony of her head.

"We all heard you scream." Raimundo said. He, himself, looked as though he had had little sleep once more. "We all ran to the bathroom, and you were unconscious in the bathtub. You must have slipped and knocked yourself out. But you got a pretty nasty head wound. There's gonna be a gnarly scar, right here," Raimundo pointed towards the back of her head, "And you messed up your collarbone. It was gross. And you got a couple of bruises everywhere else, but Master Fung says you're gonna live." He gave a small smile, but Kimiko wasn't fooled. He had been worried, they all had.

"I must have just slipped." Kimiko responded, weakly. In truth, she felt exhausted and sleep was creeping back up on her. Her mind flashed back to the shower, remembering hearing someone calling her name, and those eyes staring back at her.

Her eyes flashed open again as she recalled the fall, and she jerked upright.

The four boys all leapt back in horror, but quickly stood to attendance, trying to push her back into bed, and she complied without resistance.

"Sorry, I... just remembered." She mumbled, weakly. "I did fall. I just remembered it... I slipped as I was climbing out. That's all."

She looked up at Master Fung, seeing the concern in his eyes, but he pursed his lips, and chose not to say anything. The other boys accepted her explanation, but there would be no fooling Master Fung. There never was.

 _I can't tell them... not with what they suspect, they'll think I'm crazy or that evil is here._

She regretted lying to them all, but she knew that had she told the truth, Master Fung would not have given her any more information, and would have been angry at her for listening in on his and Raimundo's conversation. It was best to wait and see.

 _I was just tired,_ she reasoned with herself, _I'd had no sleep. It's possible that I hallucinated._

For the next few days, the boys tended to Kimiko's every need while her head wound began to heal. It turned out that her collarbone was tenderer than she had first realised, and so the three boys covered her chores around the Temple. They fed her in her bed, insisted that she slept all day, and catered to her every whim for three days.

But the nights were the worst. It was when the nightmares started.

She dreamt she was alone in the dark, stranded in a noiseless forest, with a hideous beast, with two orange eyes glistening in the dark. It kept coming for her, and it didn't matter where she ran to, which trees she climbed, which weapons she used, it would keep coming, and it wouldn't stop. The beast would sometimes become a man, other times it was a four-legged shadow, but either way, it would hiss and snarl, terrifying her each time.

She always woke in a sweat, with the beast grabbing onto her right shoulder each and every time as she jerked upright, panting and afraid.

It wasn't so much the noises or even the shadowed beast itself that scared her, it was the eyes. The two glowing orange slits, like a monster, glistening in the darkness, beckoned her closer.

The days past, and the nightmares got worse each day, but she decided not to say anything still.

 _I am just overreacting_ , she told herself. _There was no point worrying Master Fung or Raimundo, not just yet._

If there came a time when she was truly in trouble she would tell them. After all, nothing bad had happened yet. She had not wanted to worry any of them.

But she had noticed that the dreams were becoming more severe each night, as if the monster was looming ever closer.

Throughout her recover, the boys even escorted to the shower each morning by one of the boys. Since there were no girls around to help Kimiko undress with a broken collarbone, the task was incredibly difficult alone, and so each of them took turns in helping her, though she preferred Clay out of them all.

Though embarrassed, Kimiko knew it was necessary that she had help, but Raimundo's embarrassment was plain on his face whenever he tried to help her undress, and Omi would simply talk and talk and talk about how comfortable he was with the situation, not at all embarrassed, and how many girls bodies he had seen so hers didn't make him uncomfortable at all. He rambled on so much so that she ended up asking him to leave and attempted to complete the task without him.

Clay, on the other hand, simply didn't seem to mind helping. Calm, cool and focused, he was gentle with helping her undress, and polite to a fault. A true gentleman.

When she wasn't showering, eating or taking a stroll, Master Fung insisted she remain in bed, to build up her strength, but in truth, she disliked staying still for so long. She wanted to be up and out, to breathe in the fresh air, and to get away from the eyes of the three boys, who constantly asked whether she was okay.

She knew they were just being helpful, but Kimiko had barely had enough time to think lately, without someone coming in to talk to her.

It was all so confusing, and frighteningly coincidental. She supposed on some level that Raimundo's warning could have subconsciously manifested itself into a hallucination. At least, that's what Kimiko hoped. In truth, the reality was much more frightening.

If evil really was coming, Kimiko felt as though it was creeping ever closer.

For the next few days, things seemed to quieten down. Kimiko started sleeping at nights, her strength returned and she began to feel quite normal. Her appetite returned and she found that she barely spent any time at all in bed. She could almost manage to dress herself without needing help, and the boys had started standing outside the door while she showered, rather than insisting that they remained in the room, hiding behind the shower curtain.

Two weeks after her fall, things had almost returned to normal. Her arm was still sore, a throbbing ache that made movement difficult, but everything else seemed to have quietened down.

She began to think how silly she had been, thinking that evil was coming. After all, it had just been bad dreams. Nothing more.

Since she couldn't train much, other than practising using Shen Gong Wu or helping do some of the chores, she spent much of her time in the Temple courtyard. It was approaching mid-summer, and her favourite flowers were blooming. She didn't know what they were called, but they were beautiful, with colours of pale pink and soft creams, smelling sweet and soft to the touch. The running water of the stone carved fountain, with a baby angel sprouting water from its mouth, was also a welcome sound.

Sometimes she trailed her hands in the water, watching the koi fish inside swim calmly around it, occasionally brushing up against her fingers, making her giggle.

"You okay, Kim?" Clay's voice came from behind her, and she whipped around to see him, smiling widely as he beamed at her.

"I'm fine." She replied pleasantly. "How's training?"

"Tiring." Clay said, fanning himself with his hat. "I'm taking a break. Rai and Omi are having a content to see who can hold their breath the longest. I think Omi's about to pass out."

Kimiko chuckled. "You guys are so competitive."

Clay nudged her arm playfully. "You're the worst one!" He laughed softly. "You never want to lose!"

"No one should ever want to lose." She laughed with him.

The two sat silently on the mouth of the fountain then, and Clay sighed happily.

"How's your arm feelin' now, little lady?" He asked, kindly, casting his eyes over the bandage.

"It still hurts." She said casually, lifting it slightly. "But it's getting better. I feel stronger already."

"Well, you'll be back training with us in no time." Clay said with a smile. "I should go check and see if Omi's still conscious."

"Yes, go." Kimiko agreed, watching Clay with fondness.

She watched him disappear inside the Temple, and turned her attention back to the running water of the pond. Humming softly to herself, she felt completely at ease, and then she heard Clay coming up behind her again, sigh once more, and place his hand on her shoulder.

"Back again?" She asked, pleasantly, still watching the water.

No reply.

Her heart began to thud, and turned slowly turned her head left.

A black, gloved hand, one that definitely didn't belong to Clay, was resting on her shoulder.

In an instant, she whipped around, feeling her fire rushing to her fingertips, ready to strike, and saw there was no one there.

Panting and breathless, she ran into the Temple, poised to strike, glancing around, prepared to scream for help, but no one was there. The gloved hand had vanished.

 _Did I really see a hand?_

The thought bubbled to her mind.

No, she had definitely seen it. Felt the material touch the cloth of her robes, felt it squeeze lightly, heard the sigh and the footsteps.

It had all been there.

It had all been real.

But then... where? Who?

 _I'm going crazy..._

She marched herself towards the garden, knowing that Master Fung would be in there, but paused before she entered the small greenhouse, where Master Fung was watering the tomato plants, and retreated.

 _Nothing has happened, Kimiko. Do you know how crazy you'll sound? How much you'll worry everyone?_

 _No._ She decided, firmly. _It's best to carry on as normal._

She said nothing of the hand to the boys, and kept herself busy by walking or scrolling through her phone with her good hand, thinking nothing about what had happened, but feeling it lurking in the back of her mind.

Sometimes she thought she could feel the hand resting softly on her left shoulder, and would shudder at the thought. Her entire shoulder felt cold, but burned at the same time; a strange sensation, but just a shock reaction, she supposed.

For the next few days, she remained on guard, but felt her strength returning day by day. Kimiko knew it would only be a matter of days before Master Fung trusted them to care for her alone, and retreated back on his travels, but the thought of him leaving was a worrying one. She remained in her room for long periods of time, thinking, meditating, trying to work out what it all meant.

She had almost told Master Fung several times, and the old man seemed to know that something was wrong, but each time, she had chickened out.

Master Fung would urge caution, and for her to be on her guard. After all, there was nothing else she could do. It wasn't like there was anything that could be done, and she was sure that whatever these hallucinations were, they weren't the form of some kind of evil.

Besides, even if they were, what proof did she have? Nothing. Just her word, and her word would make her sound insane.

Convincing herself that she had made the right decision, she continued throughout her days as normal. Eating breakfast, taking a shower, and meditating, watching the boys train, chatting with whoever took a break, helping with the chores if she could, and maybe going for walks or runs if her shoulder and arm weren't feeling too painful. The sling was growing to be a nuisance, and she regularly had to ask Raimundo or Clay to undo the bow that tied it around her neck. Each morning, she woke, ate her breakfast, and waited for the boys to rise. Sometimes Omi would do it, but he'd need a chair to reach her neck.

Today's morning was no different, Raimundo woke and sleepily attacked a cup of coffee, downing it like a wild animal, before gulping down his cereal. She waited patiently for him to finish, and he marched her to the shower.

"Okay," He said, moving behind her as they entered the bathroom together. "Put your head forward."

She obliged, tilting her head forward so her hair was out of the way of the fastening.

Raimundo tugged at the cloth, pulling at it, and the tie slipped away to the floor.

She pulled off the oversized hoodie she had been wearing along with Raimundo's help, and reached over to turn the knob on the bathroom wall to start the shower.

"Kimiko..." Raimundo's voice sounded behind her. "What is that on your shoulder?"

"What? Where?" Kimiko turned, trying to see what he was pointing at on the back of her shoulder, but it was an agony to even move it enough to see. She had forgotten that she was even wearing a vest top instead of her usual PJs, but the heat of the summer months was taking its toll.

"Did you get a tattoo? Master Fung is going to _kill_ you." Raimundo looked awestruck.

"What? No? What are you talking about?" She turned, still trying to see over her left shoulder. Her first thought was that this might be some elaborate prank. It wouldn't be the first time he had drawn on her while she was asleep, although he usually opted for a moustache and glasses, or a beard if she was truly unlucky.

"Come here, look." Raimundo pulled her in front of the mirror, and to her horror, she saw he was right. There was a mark there.

It was small, about the length of her thumb, just on the bone of her shoulder blade. It was red, irritated, angry, but unmistakable.

"What the hell is that? Did I get burnt?" She stupidly tried to move towards the mirror, but realised she couldn't see the mark any closer even if she tried.

Raimundo raised an eyebrow. "It... looks like three circles. Kinda intertwined. Like one big circle."

"What?" She tried to reach to touch the mark, but it was beyond the way her arms could stretch, and she couldn't move to reach it.

He looked at her suspiciously. "You totally got a tat, didn't you? You don't have to lie to me."

But Kimiko was horrified. "Raimundo... No, I swear, I didn't."

"Come on, I know you did." He smiled playfully at her, but she shook her head, dismayed.

"Raimundo, I swear, I didn't do this. What the hell is that?! How did it get on me?!" Panicked, she looked back at the mark again. "I haven't been anywhere. You've been with me for days. I haven't left the Temple since I fell. I couldn't have. What _is_ that?!"

Raimundo was right. Unmistakable. Three circles, intertwined and connected, clear as day on her back.

Bewildered, she looked up at Raimundo, her mouth gaping dumbly. "How?" Was all she could manage while her head raced, her heart thumped and her hands began to tremble.

She reached up again, trying to reach the mark, to see whether somehow she could have done this to herself in her sleep. But no, it was impossible. There was no way she could reach.

"Did you do this?" She rounded on him, suddenly burning with fury. "I swear to god, Raimundo, if you did this, I swear I will make sure I destroy-"

"Wait, Kim, no! I didn't do it, I swear!" Raimundo backed away, knowing better than to try and contend with Kimiko's temper.

Her good arm fell to her side and she whimpered, feeling terribly afraid. "But... Raimundo... if I didn't do this... and you didn't do this... Where did it come from?" She stared at him expectantly.

Raimundo's face was a blank canvass of horror and disgust at the same time.

"I need to speak to Master Fung. Now." She said.

Raimundo nodded wordlessly.

Several hundred miles away, in his volcano, Chase Young turned away from his crystal eyeball with a smirk, feeling rather pleased with himself.

XXX


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Kimiko could feel her legs trembling against the wooden chair she was sitting on. Her injured collarbone throbbed painfully and her heartbeat pounded in her chest. Master Fung sat across from her, not saying at word. Somehow, that was worse than if he had started screaming.

Raimundo sat beside her, and clutched her hand, giving it a comforting squeeze, as if to tell her it would be alright. She was not convinced.

"Tell me again, Kimiko." Master Fung requested gently. He had remained entirely calm so far, not reacting the way she had expected at all. She had expected him to scold her for not talking sooner, but so far, nothing. He had sat quietly, as if deep in thought. She suspected the scolding would come later.

Kimiko repeated her story once more, telling Master Fung everything that had happened, including the reason she had fallen, the eyes behind the curtain, the whispers of her name, even the hand on her shoulder. But the tattoo on her shoulder – that was the thing that concerned her the most.

"May I see it?" He asked, equally as calm.

Kimiko nodded, and along with Raimundo's assistance, he peeled back her shirt to reveal her bare shoulder, to show the old man the black, intertwined circles inked onto her skin.

Master Fung traced his fingers over the lines.

"Does it hurt?" He asked, soft as a whisper.

"It has been stinging." She admitted. "I didn't realise there was something there... I thought it was maybe, I don't know, just a bruise or something from the fall."

Master Fung gestured for her to take a seat once more, and did so himself, sitting opposite her with an expressionless face.

"Kimiko," Master Fung began. "I'm afraid..."

Kimiko's breath caught in her throat, waiting for him to tell her what the mark meant. What any of it had meant. What the hell was happening to her?

"Well," He continued, "I'm afraid I have no answers for you."

Kimiko's jaw dropped. "What?" How could that be?!

"I'm sorry." Master Fung said, looking completely and utterly lost for words. "I'm afraid I really do not what this symbol means, or indeed, how it came to be upon your shoulder. I have never encountered its like, nor heard of any similar cases."

"But..." Kimiko was bewildered. "Master Fung, if you don't know what's happening to me... What am I supposed to do? There must be answers somewhere!"

"Whatever happened to Kim, it ain't right, Master Fung!" Raimundo interjected for the first time. He had kept quiet so far, so his sudden outburst made Kimiko feel slightly comforted that she wasn't overreacting, that this really was something to be truly worried about. "We gotta find the answers somewhere." He got to his feet, as if furious at Master Fung's lack of help.

"Please calm down, young monk." Master Fung said, his eyes narrowly slightly, and Raimundo obediently rescinded. He knew better than to mess with Master Fung.

The old man shook his head wordlessly, before drawing a long breath.

"Kimiko..." His soft blue eyes were filled with concern, and she thought she could sense the fear in his voice. "Whatever this is... it is a great evil."

His eyes flickered to Raimundo, and Kimiko saw Raimundo's mouth fall.

"How... But... What did..." Raimundo began, but words continued to fail him.

"You knew." Kimiko said, deciding it was time to come clean. "I heard you both talking."

"Then I trust you'll understand our concerns. This cannot be a coincidence. There is great evil at work here." Master Fung said, casting his eyes between the two of them. "Greater than we have seen before."

"So what do I do?" Kimiko asked. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. She only cried a few times since she'd gotten to the Temple, and she'd tried to never let the boys see her weakness. And she was determined not to cry now, but she could feel her eyes stinging, and Raimundo's grip on her hand tightened slightly, as if he knew she was trying to be strong too.

Master Fung shook his head again, slowly. "For now, all we can do is remain vigilant. Should anything else occur, you must tell us immediately. Perhaps we can piece together the mystery."

"We've faced great evil before, Kimiko." Raimundo offered softly. "We've always been okay before."

It was all Kimiko could do to nod. True, they had faced evil before, but it had been all of them on the receiving end. Not just one of them.

 _Why me?_

This felt more sinister. Could it be something new that they'd never faced before? How did it all work out this way?

"I'll consult with the Temple elders..." Master Fung said, looking thoughtful. "Perhaps they can offer some insight. I suggest you explain the situation to Omi and Clay, and perhaps search through the hundreds of scrolls in the archive. There may be something in there that has some kind of relevance. Though I do not recall anything."

"Thank you, Master Fung." Kimiko said, more out of politeness than real gratitude. In truth, she felt unreasonably let down by Master Fung. He knew everything that was just what he did. And not knowing was somehow, worse than knowing.

Kimiko managed to quench back her tears, feeling her fiery element tingling in her fingertips. She wanted to escape, to throw herself onto her bed and sob until the tears stopped coming, but instead, she took a deep breath.

"Could I be alone, for a little while?" She asked Raimundo.

He nodded, looking at her with concern.

"I'm fine," She lied." I just want some space... You know, impending evil and all that..." She tried to force a laugh, but her voice was strained.

"Should I tell Omi and Clay?"

Kimiko nodded. "Go ahead."

Without really thinking about where she was going, she left the room, and somehow, found herself on the roof of the temple. She knew no one would think to look for her on the roof, and she could finally be alone.

 _Omi and Clay will think I am some kind of freak..._

 _They'll never let me be alone again._

 _They'll treat me like some kind of pariah._

 _Maybe I should leave the temple? Perhaps it'd be safer for them? If some dreadful evil is coming for me, it might be better to separate myself._

 _No, they'd never let me leave. Unless I left now? They'd never know where I'd gone..._

 _But I can't leave without saying goodbye. They'd never understand._

 _Well, I'm sure they'd appreciate me leaving if I spare them from a terrible fate._

 _Stop being silly, Kimiko, you're a Tohomiko. Tohomiko's are stronger than this. You're not going to let some silly mark scare you, are you?_

Finally, the she couldn't stop the tears any longer. She let out a silent sob, and all the confusion, the pain and the anguish started flowing from her eyes.

She wasn't sure how long she cried for. All she knew was that the sun had gone in by the time she climbed down, and it was starting to get cold.

Her feet carried her to the archive, where she could hear Raimundo, Omi and Clay talking in soft voices.

"There must be something..." She heard Omi say.

"We've been here all day and found nothin'." Clay threw back. "I give up."

"No, you don't." Raimundo said sternly. "Kimiko is our friend and there is something happening to her. We can't sit back and do nothing."

"I meant nothin' by it." Clay responded, sounding a little wounded.

"Did you guys find anything?" She asked, trying to sound cheerful, but her voice was cracked and strained. Her face felt swollen, and she knew they knew.

Raimundo and Clay had the decency to pretend that they didn't notice her tear-streaked face. Omi, however, was not so graceful, and looked up from the tattered parchment in his hand and gasped at her face.

"You look terrible!" Omi said, loudly.

Kimiko couldn't help but let out a little laugh. "Thanks, Omi."

Raimundo rolled his eyes, and then rolled up the scroll in his hands. "We've been searching all day. Nothing yet. But there's still lots to go through. You wanna help?"

She gave a nod, and wordlessly, she joined the others in their quest for knowledge.

They stayed there all night, reading old bits of text around fighting techniques, Shen Gong Wu, the history of the elders and the Temple, there was even an amusing story about Dojo getting stuck in a decorative plant pot, but nothing about symbols.

Kimiko had seated herself between two bookshelves, which were both at least 8 feet tall, and stacked high with scrolls, and was sorting through the shelves as she went. Though she could not see him past the shelves, she thought she could hear Omi snoring, and assumed he must have fallen asleep while searching.

She read several more scrolls, seeing the letters instead of reading them properly, scanning through to see if she spotted the symbol, or anything mentioning it. Her back was aching from sitting on the cold stone floor, and her eyes were beginning to sting.

To cruelly remind her of why she was there, the tattoo would occasionally sting, making her grit her teeth and scowl miserably.

"This is useless." She sighed quietly, more to herself, and moved yet another useless scroll over to the pile of read scrolls which was slowly mounting up.

"I can't find anythin' either." She heard Clay whisper from somewhere behind one of the bookcases.

"Me three." Raimundo's voice came from further away.

"Should we take a break?" Kimiko asked, getting to her feet and stretching. Her legs felt numb as she got to her feet, and her back twinged painfully.

She heard the other two do the same, and the three ventured to the kitchen area together, leaving Omi snoring underneath a pile of scrolls. Clay stirred up a pot of hot coffee, and the three gathered together to whisper in hushed voices as the Temple around them slept quietly.

"What if we don't find the answer?" Kimiko asked quietly, clutching to her cup tightly.

"We'll find it, Kim." Clay reassured her. He looked terrible, with dark circles under his eyes and drooping eyelids, Kimiko patted him softly on the back.

"You should get some rest. You both should." She gestured to Raimundo, who gave a shrug and downed the rest of his coffee.

"I got another few hours in me." He told her, though she could see he was exhausted.

"Rest?" She tried once more, but he shook his head.

"I can read a few more. There's gotta be something somewhere." Even his voice sounded tired.

The three slowly got to their feet and shuffled back to the archive room. Together, they searched another hundred or so scrolls, before Clay let out a long yawn.

"Maybe we should call it a night." He whispered, so as not to wake Omi.

Feeling exhausted herself, Kimiko yawned. "Till morning..." She agreed.

Raimundo chuckled quietly from somewhere behind her. "It's been morning for an hour already, Kim."

"Really?" She asked, completely unaware. Being caved in by the bookshelves had meant that she had blocked out the window, and hadn't noticed the room lightening.

"I miss the roosters crowin' at home." Clay's voice came from the other side of the bookcase. "You'd wake up to their crowing and hear the sheep bleatin', and then you'd hear the cows wakin' up too with their big bells. I miss Texas."

Kimiko chuckled softly. "I think I must be a cow." She replied, more to herself than Clay. "I've been branded, haven't I?"

Silence followed, and then Raimundo and Clay's faces appeared, both looking horrified.

"Kimiko... what if that's exactly what it is?" Clay questioned.

Kimiko raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying I'm being raised for slaughter?"

"Maybe." Clay said as Raimundo's eyebrows knotted together.

"Maybe not slaughter." Raimundo offered, sounding half in thought. "Maybe something else. Maybe you're a target. Maybe that's all it is. A sign of evil." He said, raising his hands ominously, as if it was all a joke.

"This is all speculation." Kimiko said, trying not to run away with the idea.

"But why target her?" Clay asked. "Why not all of us?"

"Hmm." Raimundo rubbed his temples. "Maybe Kimiko is just the first, and ours is coming too. Or she's a target for something else. Maybe it's a warning of something to come. Or maybe someone just has a crush on Kim."

"Well, we do know someone who's always had an unhealthy obsession..." Clay smirked, and Raimundo smirked back at him.

Kimiko rolled her eyes.

"Spicer would totally do something creepy like this." Raimundo stared at Kimiko, expecting her to be nodding in response.

"This isn't Spicer's style. The voices, the tattoo, he's not clever enough to do something like this." Kimiko tried to reason.

"Well, it couldn't hurt to question the little creep. He might know somethin'." Clay said thoughtfully.

"I don't think Spicer is behind this. It doesn't feel like Spicer's handiwork." Kimiko said. The tattoo twinged painfully, a constant reminder.

"I still think we should pay him a visit. Our only other contenders of great evil are Wuya, who's floating around somewhere without her body, and Chase Young, who we haven't seen for ages. Spicer is the most likely. The fact that no evil has actually happened yet is a good indication that an idiot is behind it." Clay said.

"Well, Clay and I will pay Spicer a visit. Kim, you stay here and keep looking." Raimundo decided, and got to his feet.

Kimiko nodded. In truth, she knew their journey was a wasted one, but so far, they had nothing, so there couldn't be any harm in trying.

Raimundo snapped a quick picture of Kimiko's tattoo on his phone, and gave her a quick hug.

"We'll get to the bottom of this, I promise." He whispered gently in her ear. "We won't let anything happen to you."

She felt comforted by his words, but she had a feeling they would come back empty handed.

Omi snorted in his sleep, rolling over and mumbling.

Raimundo went to wake him, but Kimiko grabbed his arm. "Let him sleep a while. He'll be able to help when he's awake."

"Kim, someone needs to keep an eye on you." Clay reminded her.

"I'll be fine. I'll wake him soon, but he can't help if he's exhausted. We all need to rest." Kimiko could feel her eyes stinging with tiredness. She envied Omi getting to rest.

"Stop mothering us." Raimundo told her with a frown.

"Go to Spicer's. It'll be fine. I promise." She gave him a sincere look. "I won't move from this room. I'll be looking at the scrolls. That's all."

"We'll be back soon." Clay told her, patting her hand gently.

Kimiko nodded, and the two boys left.

Aside from Omi's snores, all was quiet, which somehow made it even harder to concentrate on the scrolls. Clay had a habit of humming as he read, while Raimundo would let out small grunts or sighs of exasperation every so often that would keep her focused if she started to fall asleep.

After what felt like hours, Kimiko sighed. Her back was aching, her legs were numb, and her collarbone and tattoo were both becoming increasingly painful. Slowly, she got to her feet, remembering her promise to wake up Omi. She had no idea how long it had been since they left.

As she went to rise, she heard a rustling movement from towards the doorway, which was on the other side of the bookcase, as well as the sound of footsteps.

"Rise and shine." She said kindly, getting to her feet. But as she rounded the bookcase, Omi was still sound asleep on his side, and quietly snoring.

She moved to the doorway, but there was no one to be seen. All was quiet.

Trying not to panic, she whipped around, casting her eyes nervously around the room. Just what the hell was she looking for anyway?

And then she felt it. A soft, gentle graze that moved from her tattoo up to her shoulder. At first, she thought it was just another painful twinge, but this was different. It was something very, very real.

Horrified and frozen with fear, she slowly turned her eyes, seeing a familiar black and gloved hand resting upon her shoulder. Her heart thudded and her head screamed at her to run, but her legs wouldn't obey.

She went to scream, but another hand gripped her mouth, and a soft, cold breath whispered in her ear. "Shhhhhh..."

Her hands flew up to yank the hand away from her mouth and she felt her fire preparing to explode. Kimiko turned sharply, and came face to face with two, piercing orange eyes.

She screamed.

Darkness came.

XXX

A voice.

 _Meet me at midnight._

XXX

"Kimiko?" A hand was shaking her. "Kimiko!"

She groaned, and opened her eyes. Omi was shaking her violently, looking down at her with concern. She was lying flat on her back in the archive room, dazed and confused.

"What happened?"

"I don't know." She said stupidly, sitting upright slowly. Her entire body ached where she had fallen, and her tattoo stung painfully.

"You screamed." Omi said, helping her to her feet.

 _Not again._

She got to her feet unsteadily. Her feet felt numb and her knees were trembling, so she gripped his shoulder for support, feeling as though she might fall again.

"What happened?" Omi demanded of her.

"I... I don't know. I thought I saw something. But... I don't know..." She trailed off, feeling foolish and unable to explain herself.

"A spider?" Omi said in a patronising tone. He could be that way sometimes.

"I just... I think I fell asleep. I had a nightmare." She said, though her voice betrayed her confusion.

"A nightmare?" Omi asked, one eyebrow raised as if he didn't quite believe her.

Kimiko nodded, not knowing how else to explain what she saw without sounding like she was crazy. She was exhausted, it could have just been tiredness. Or it could have been something more sinister. Frankly, she didn't care at the moment. Her body sagged with exhaustion. "I need to go to bed." She mumbled.

Omi grabbed her. "Kimiko, wait, what happened?"

"I just fell." She groaned, shoving him off. She could barely keep her eyelids open.

Omi let go, looking dejected. "Rest, then." He said, softly.

She didn't need telling a second time, but when she lay her head on the pillow, she could think of nothing but the darkness, and the voice that had sounded in her head.

 _Meet me at midnight..._

XXX

Raimundo and Clay felt strange travelling alone on Dojo. It was rare that only two travelled together, but the green dragon flew swiftly, and it wasn't long before they arrived at Spicer's home.

They had heard on the grapevine that Spicer's parents had moved out some time ago, leaving Jack to run the family home. It had drastically changed since their last visit some time ago. They almost didn't recognise it.

The house had been repainted a burnt orange colour, with black detailing. It was very Spicer. Along the perimeter, Jackbots patrolled, their glowing red eyes shining in the distance. Raimundo pointed to each corner of the towering fence that surrounded Spicer's home and said: "Look, sentry turrets."

Clay narrowed his eyes. Sure enough, sentry turrets were sat, awaiting orders, though the cowboy couldn't help but notice that they seemed to already be pointing towards him.

As Raimundo approved the large metal gate, a voice sounded:

"Meet me at the door."

It was Spicer's voice, sounding from a speaker that must have been positioned somewhere, though the two dragons couldn't spot it. The sentry turrets and the Jackbots bowed their heads, showing that they were allowing the pair to pass unscathed.

The gate swung open, and Raimundo and Clay approached Spicer's front door.

Raimundo lifted his hand to knock the door, but a series of beeps, clicks and sliding sounds came from the other side of the door, no doubt Spicer was undoing many lock combinations.

When Spicer finally opened the door, Raimundo and Clay were shocked at the person behind it. Instead of the small, scruffy, spiky haired boy they'd grown up with, a tall and muscled man greeted them. His long red hair was tied back in a ponytail, with his familiar goggles nestled in his hair. The black eyeliner that had once adorned his face was gone, and his eyes were a soft brown instead of the glowing red they had grown up with. He wore a red vest, showing bulging arms, though very pale, that were covered in tribal tattoos.

He did not greet them with a smile, but instead had the manner of someone disinterested and bored.

 _He isn't afraid of us anymore._

"Hello, losers." Jack said, the faintest trace of a smile appearing on his lips. His voice was no longer a squeaky mess, but a strong and deep voice. "What do you want?"

"I reckon we got the wrong house." Clay said with a small smile. "We're lookin' for Jack Spicer."

Jack grunted, though he seemed to laugh with his eyes. "Come in."

Inside his home was almost exactly as his parents must have left it, except bits of circuitry and robotics were scattered everywhere, as well as discarded clothes, empty soda and beer cans, as well as odd shoes and empty pizza boxes. Clay nudged a robot arms aside as he stepped over the threshold.

Jack pointed at a doorway, and the Dragons entered a room with an air hockey table in the middle of it, and some chairs surrounding it. Spicer took a seat on one, throwing his feet up on the table.

"So, what do you want?" He grabbed a beer can from the table, shook it gently to see if anything was inside, and gulped what remained.

"Just wanted to ask a question." Raimundo swiped through his phone and brought up the image of Kimiko's shoulder, and showed it to Spicer. "Know what it is?"

Spicer narrowed his eyes, staring at it intently. "Nope. Why?"

Clay sat upright. "You sure about that? You sure you don't know what it is?"

Jack shrugged coolly. "Pretty sure. Why are you asking?"

"Because it's appeared on Kimiko's shoulder and she doesn't have a clue what it is or how it got there." Raimundo said seriously. "And we can't figure out what it means."

Jack smirked. "Sounds like a drunken night to me."

Raimundo scowled, and proceeded to tell Spicer exactly what had happened to Kimiko, and how the tattoo came to be.

Jack raised an eyebrow slowly and sat back in his chair. He took a deep breath, scratching his head.

"Well, I've definitely never seen that symbol before, but tattoos appearing all on their own sure aren't good news. Whatever it is, something big is coming."

Raimundo eyed Spicer suspiciously. Until now, he had been unsure whether to trust him, but he could see in his eyes that there was no malice there. The rivalry that had once been between them was gone. Spicer wasn't behind this, he was sure.

"You got any ideas where we can find out what it means?" Clay asked, and Spicer shook his head.

"No, but whoever did it is powerful, and they're gunning for Kimiko." Spicer said. "I guess combined with the other creepy behaviour, this has to come to a head somewhere."

"What do you mean, Spicer?" Clay asked.

"Well, whatever this is, it's gotta mean something. Whoever is behind this will reveal themselves in time. If you can't find out what it means, then all you can do is wait. Whoever is doing this clearly doesn't want her dead, at least not at the moment, so there's gonna be more of this." Spicer said calmly. "You're gonna have to watch her, because they're coming."

XXX

Kimiko gasped awake. Her eyes flew open to reveal her bedroom flooded in darkness, with the sound of Clay, Raimundo and Omi snoring in their rooms beside her. She knew she must have slept all day, with the boys finding nothing at Spicer's. They would have woken her if they had found anything.

She gave a stretch, as much as her pain would allow her, and got unsteadily to her feet. In the darkness, she tiptoed towards the kitchen, deciding to make some warm milk to take her back to bed, though she doubted she needed any more sleep. She did not know how long it was until morning, but judging from the twilight above, dawn was a long way off.

 _The forest..._

The thought came suddenly to her head, as if out of nowhere. The forest would be calm, peaceful. A night time stroll would be good for clearing her head, and helping to calm herself from the worry of the last few days. She found herself marching towards the doorway, before she halted in her tracks.

 _Meet me at midnight..._

And then she knew where the thought had come from. She froze, panic seizing her heart and her throat.

"No." She whispered, a half sob of fear. Fear of being insane, fear of not being insane, fearing if she went and fearing if she didn't.

" _Come to the forest."_

The voice echoed in her head.

"No." She said, gripping the doorway as if something was going to make her move. "I won't."

A faint but gentle creaking sounded behind her. Kimiko felt her legs lock in sheer horror, and she squeezed her eyes shut tight, not daring to move.

"Don't be afraid." The voice was all too real this time, and she wheeled around, coming face to face with the man himself.

"Chase Young?" She whispered, not daring to believe it.

He stood before her, inside the Temple, bold as brass, with a smile on his face. He wore his familiar armour, with his sleek black hair falling softly pass his shoulders. His eyes pierced her skin, making her feel vulnerable and unsafe.

The man before her bowed, with the hint of a smirk on his face, and spoke calmly. "Good evening, Kimiko, or rather, good morning. I believe it's just turned midnight."

XXX


End file.
